Three Girls and a Dog
by Pondering Writer
Summary: Le Quack had tricked Courage and his family another time, but he chose the wrong city to execute his plan.
1. Le Quack's Contest

**_Three Girls and a Dog_**

Chapter 1: Le Quack's Contest

In the centre of the city of Nowhere, inside a small farmhouse, Eustace was watching TV. He was about to fall asleep when a commercial aired on the TV. It was publicizing some new modern TV's and reminded Eustace that his television set was still a outdated black-and-white one. The farmer immediately started to complain about his situation:

"Muriel! How could you buy the pillow for that stupid dog when we still have to watch TV without even colours?"

"You have never told me that you wanted a new TV, Eustace" replied Muriel "And how could I allow that Courage still slept on that old and broken pillow we had?"

Eustace was moaning about his wife when a leaflet flew inside through a opened window and hit Eustace directly in the face. He was just to get very angry when he noticed what was the leaflet about. Unfortunately, there weren't offers for TVs, but Eustace was interested by a contest advertisement. The contest was about a competition between farmers coming from all the United States. The competitors would be rated by a jury, with the purpose of selecting the best farmer in the U.S.A. The winner of the contest would receive a reward of $ 3000, too. "Oh, my!" shouted Eustace when he read about the prize of the contest. He rushed into the kitchen, where Muriel was preparing lunch.

"Muriel, prepare to leave right now, because we are going to earn lots of money!" shouted Eustace.

"Ohhh! I love trips!" said Muriel. She immediately stopped to cook and ran upstairs.

Meanwhile, Courage, that was sleeping in the Bagge's bedroom, had woken up and went downstairs. He could only listen Eustace telling Muriel to prepare for an upcoming trip, but he was horrified, as he remembered that all the voyages they did ended with them facing some evil villains or horrible monsters. He tried to stop Muriel with his paw, but she misunderstood him.

"Don't be worried, Courage, I will prepare the luggage for both me and you" said Muriel.

"Yeah, you stupid dog, go help her instead of standing in her way" ordered Eustace, while thinking of the $ 3000 dollars he was going to win.

Courage had a bad feeling about this situation, but he couldn't stop his family so he decided to help Muriel, while promising himself that he would have protected her at all costs.

After a short lunch, they left Nowhere at 3 o'clock P.M.

"Ehy, dog, be helpful for once and give me the map that I have left in the glove box" said Eustace while driving. Courage searched for the map and when he found it he decided to watch for a moment where the heck they were heading to. There was a big black drawn "X" right on a big city. Courage thought it was their destination, so he read the name of the city: "Townsville". He never heard of it before, and he hoped it wasn't an hazardous one, like New York and Los Angeles were.

Townsville was quite from Nowhere, and Eustace managed to mistake the path, still thinking of the 50-inch LED 3D TV set he was going to buy with the 3000 bucks, so they finally arrived in the city at about 9 o'clock.

"Now, where is the contest's place?" said Eustace, but Muriel was tired.

"Eustace, we better find a place to sleep. We can go for that another day, can't we?" asked Muriel, and Courage nodded his head.

Muriel persuaded Eustace to put off and they found a little and cheap hotel in the outskirts of Townsville. Courage could see from there the city centre, with dozens of skyscrapers hiding the sea behind them.

Courage was worried about what the citizen could look like, but all he could see were cheerful faces and polite answers. It seemed that all the people in Townsville were just as kind as Muriel was, and even Eustace couldn't complain about the service. It was all just perfect and lovable. They settled in the hotel and they went to bed in the evening.

The next morning, Eustace awoke Muriel (and Courage in the process) :

"Woman, wake up! How can you sleep when you know that $ 3000 are awaiting you?" said Eustace.

"This ain't good" thought Courage while watching Muriel preparing herself and Eustace dancing weirdly. Townsville was indeed a good city, at least in a large part, but Courage was still suspicious about the contest.

They left the little hotel, and Eustace headed to the city centre. Courage could see some landmarks of the city while they were moving through it, included a big and white building with a vast garden in front of it. Courage thought it was surely the town hall.

" We have arrived. I'm going to win 3000 dollars!" Eustace had finally stopped the van. They were completely surrounded by skyscrapers, but it was a quite crowded street, so Courage gave a sigh of relief. Eustace and Muriel entered one of the buildings: the atrium was quite clean and modern. Eustace took the leaflet that he still owned and read the number of the floor where the competitors would sign up for the contest.

"We better use the elevator" said Muriel when she read the two-digit number on the paper.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah" moaned Eustace, and they entered it.

Courage was just beginning to feel relaxed when he watched the button of the floor that Eustace has pushed. Unlike the other buttons, it was dirty, half broken and you could see the electrical cables through it. Courage was feared about what that button could mean about the floor they were going to.

The 31° floor was just like the button in the elevator. It was an abandoned part of the building, as there were still construction site's parts, packaged furniture, and spider webs all over the place. The lights that were correctly working were three or four, but thank goodness it was half past nine and there was enough sun light to see.

Courage was worried, but he couldn't do anything apart from following Eustace and Muriel through the floor. They stopped in front of a door, just as creepy as the entire place was, that showed a sign with a "Farmer's Competition" notice on it. Eustace knocked the door.

"Excuse me, is this the place where competitors sign up?" asked Muriel. She wanted to visit the city, so she was trying to make things faster.

"Yes! Yes! Please come in" said a voice. It had a French accent, and Courage was confident he had already listened it, but he couldn't manage to remember who had that voice, as it was quite altered by the speaker.

The room where Courage entered was cleaner than the rest of the place, but there were still some spider webs and dirty stuff. A big desk was located at the bottom of the chamber, where someone sat down on a big armchair, oriented to a window. The armchair was so tall that Courage couldn't see who was hidden behind it. Eustace and Muriel sat down on two chairs in front of the desk.

"Hello, my friends" said the hidden guy "welcome to the USA Best Farmer contest". Courage would have bet he was trying to not laugh.

"So, I want to sign up right now" shouted Eustace "The $ 3000 dollars will be mine!"

"Are you completely sure, Mr. Bagge?" asked the voice "Because, you know, you can't participate if you are trapped in a cage". He showed them a remote controller and clicked the big red button on it. Suddenly, two big iron cages were dropped from the ceiling and captured Eustace and Muriel. "Oh dear!" cried Muriel, but Courage, that wasn't trapped into the cages, emitted a loud scream when the guy in front of them revealed himself: he was Le Quack!

"So, my plan originally didn't involve you" said Le Quack to Courage "but I think you will be useful to me". Courage was frozen in fear for Muriel and listened his enemy.

"I want to rob the bank of this city, and many other banks all over the country, and you will do it for me, Courage" said Le Quack with his French accent "I haven't finished yet: If you will refuse to do my requests, something... _bad_ will happen to your family" while saying this he showed another time the remote controller, revealing a second, smaller yellow button behind the first.

Courage had no choice to surrender. He didn't know how Le Quack could harm Muriel, but he didn't want to know it. Also, there weren't any ways to free Muriel and Eustace from the cages without alarming Le Quack.

"You won" said Courage sadly. Le Quack laughed in his odd, particular way.

"What is all this mess! Do I have won the $ 3000?" declared angrily Eustace. If Muriel had been in his same cage, she would have hit him with his rolling pin.

Hours later, a black van stopped in front of the Townsville bank. Courage got out of the vehicle: he was wearing the same thief costume he used when the purple foot fungus had infected Eustace and had blackmailed Courage just as Le Quack was doing in that moment. The French robber had given Courage an automatic gun: "Beware of using it against me!" had said Le Quack "Because you won't then have the time to save your family before I can push the button and... destroy them. Also, it will shoot only if I want it to do" and while saying this Le Quack had showed Courage a small but complex computer set in the van. The famous French thief had managed to expand his knowledge in technology, and Courage's gun was controlled by the van. (think of Metal Gear Solid 4 ID system for weapons, it worked in a similar way).

Courage was frightened to rob the bank in a so crowded street, but he was also determined to save his family, Muriel firstly. Le Quack was monitoring him from his vehicle. He jumped into the bank's window and crashed it. "Freeze all! This is a heist!" shouted Courage while shuddering and trying to aim the gun to the guests. The people in the bank watched him for a moment, then they all started to laugh, absurdly since the gun Courage was using was real and correctly operating.

"You, pink little doggy, do you really want to rob this bank? Are you sure?" asked one of the receptionists while smiling.

"YES, I DO!" said Courage, then he had an idea to show he was serious: he caught one of the customers and aimed the gun just in his head. Everyone stopped to laugh.

"I hope this won't last for long" thought Courage while threatening the receptionists and trying to have the bank's strongbox opened.

There was a tiny thing that both Le Quack (who didn't explore much the city) and Courage didn't know about Townsville: that there were three, little girls with superpowers protecting the city and fighting crime.

One of the receptionist managed to click an alarm switch under her desk, and the bank robbery was right away reported to the police stations and the town hall.

"There is a pink dog that is robbing the bank? Ah, that is so cute, isn't it?" said the Mayor when he read the report paper Miss Bellum brought him.

"Mayor, he has got an hostage!" replied Miss Bellum "It is still too risky to have the cops do all the thing"

"Yes, yes, yes... what can we do?" asked the Mayor while thinking deeply.

"How about doing what you always do when there is something troubling Townsville?" said Miss Bellum patiently.

"Oh yeah! How could I forget!" said the Mayor. He went through the office, picked up the hotline and called up someone.

Back in the Bank, Courage had managed to open the strongbox and had picked up a money bag. He was carrying it while still aiming his gun at the hostage. He was exactly in the centre of the bank atrium when he heard a whistling sound. Le Quack heard it too, and when he saw what was heading to the bank, he started the van and rushed away from the area as quick as he could. Courage listened the sound becoming louder: he was so frightened that all the people, including his hostage, could exit the bank safely. The sound was now very loud, but before Courage could realize what could have been emitting it, something broke in and crashed just in front of Courage, actually destroying part of the floor. He gave a horrible scream, dropped the gun and the money, and immediately started to run, without caring where he was going to. However, he didn't run for long: he heard another time the sound, then something caught him, lifted him from the floor and threw him into the bank's wall at high speed. He was slammed on the wall, then he fell on the floor, while laughing a bit for the pain, and he fainted.


	2. Unexpected Developments

Chapter 2: Unexpected Developments

Courage was slowly recovering his senses. While still seeing dark, he thought of what could have smashed him to the wall. "Probably a robot warrior used by the government. Or a big monster that decided to destroy the bank while I was robbing it. Or, maybe, some type of superhero". While thinking, Courage recovered the control of his ears, and listened to some voices. The poor dog couldn't believe his own ears: he was listening three, cute, female voices.

Courage then managed to open his eyes and what he saw confirmed what he had heard: there were three little girls just in front of him, discussing about something. Courage realized that they weren't normal: they had big heads and huge eyes compared to their body, that was small. Their legs and limbs seemed to be without any type of fingers. They were wearing the same type of clothes, just different in colour. Courage realized that the colour was connected with they eyes' colour. Their colours were all light in shade, too. The red one had got long orange hair, with a big bow just on her head, and seemed to be the leader. The blue one had got blonde hair combed in two rolls, and was like to be the kindest of the trio. The green one had got short black hair combed upward, and was arguing with the loudest voice of the three in that moment. They were all discussing about Courage, who was just looking at them, stunned and frightened. "Are these three little kids the ones that broke in the bank?" asked himself Courage. He decided to take advantage of the situation, as the three girls were very angry between themselves.

He stood up trying to be stealth, and slowly moved through the debris, bypassing the girls, but he made an error. He squashed a small cricket while walking. It made a very soft, barely audible sound, but for the girls powered hearing it seemed that a giant insect was just squashed behind them.

"Hey! Where do you think you are going?" asked the red-headed girl.

"I'm getting him!" said the green one, and before the other two could reply, she flew away and rushed to Courage. She caught him with his hand, while using the other to threaten him. Courage was frozen in fear and didn't say anything.

"Buttercup! You shouldn't have done that!" said the blue coloured girl "We have already beaten him, and not in a friendly way!"

"Bubbles, just shut up!" said Buttercup, that seemed to be annoyed "He is a robber, he is the enemy!"

"But watch him! He is terrified, he can't say a word without shudder!" replied Bubbles, that was angry too.

"He had taken an hostage, he was going to steal the bank's money, and you are defending him?!" said Buttercup. Bubbles was about to answer, but they were stopped by the red dressed girl.

"STOP RIGHT NOW!" she shouted, then when she realized that the other two were become calm, she scolded them.

"Buttercup, you were just too hard with that dog when we arrived, it wasn't needed to knock him in that way. But she is right, Bubbles, when she says that this pink guy is a bank robber and a criminal" she then began to talk with Courage "So, do you have something to tell us, before we bring you in prison?".

Courage, still held by Buttercup, started to say something, trying to tell them his story, but in his horrible way of speaking. To show the girls what was his situation, he also morphed into a similar-to-Le Quack monstrous form, and ate a doll representing Muriel. When he stopped to bark, he sighed as Buttercup and the red dressed girl were watching him: they had not understood a single word from his speech.

That's wasn't the case for Bubbles, that had the ability of speaking with animals. This special power helped her to understand Courage weird speech, and when she realized what Courage had said, she informed the other girls.

"Ahh, just shut up, stupid dog! Do you think we will trust you?" threatened Buttercup that was still holding him with his hand, ready to knock him.

"Wait, Buttercup" said the red eyed girl. In his eyes Courage could see she was wondering about who he really was.

"So, are you from Nowhere?" she asked Courage. He nodded his head.

"This clears up why you robbed this bank without even use some type of ruse against us. You don't know us, do you?" she said, and Courage did another gesture to say "Yes".

She decided to introduce herself "My name is Blossom, and these are my sister, Bubbles and Buttercup" while Blossom was saying their names, Bubbles giggled and Buttercup muttered something.

"We are the Powerpuff Girls, and we are the superheroes of this city. We protect it from evil villains, monstrous beings and criminals like you" there was something in her voice that told Courage she was proud of herself.

"Who are you, instead? At least, what's your name?" She asked Courage.

"My name is Courage, and..." Courage was beginning to say something about Muriel and Eustace, but Buttercup shook him.

"Why do you think we have to trust you?" she asked angrily.

"I'm afraid she is right, Courage" said Blossom "Your story is pretty amazing, but you have not brought us any evidence for it".

Courage tried to thought what he could show to the girls, and then he realized that while Le Quack was preparing his gun, he picked up the leaflet that was the cause of everything. It was dropped by Eustace on the floor when he was trapped in the cage. Courage thought that it would have been useful against Le Quack if he had managed to tell the police what happened.

He took the miserable leaflet and showed it. Bubbles floated in front of him, took the paper and started to read it out to his sisters. When she finished to read the contest advertisement, the Powerpuff Girls watched themselves. This was indeed a good evidence for Courage story.

"Ok, Courage, you have gained at least the fact that we won't bring you to prison right now" said Blossom.

"You could have picked up this leaflet from somewhere and just using it to trick us!" said Buttercup that didn't believe a word of Courage's story.

"We can go to the place that is written down here on the paper" suggested Bubbles, that instead was believing Courage and was worried about him and his family.

"Good idea. We shall see if you are right, Courage" said Blossom "But listen to me: if you have lied us, we will send you to the police immediately". Buttercup added "and hope that the police will already have caught you when we will realize that". She finally let Courage away from his grip, and he could finally breathe normally.

Bubbles decided to transport Courage by herself, so she grabbed him as she was carrying a little doll, without any strain. The Powerpuff Girls and Courage finally left the bank and headed to the 31° abandoned floor where Eustace and Muriel had been captured.

Meanwhile, in the top of a volcano rising just inside Townsville's city centre, Mojo Jojo had been watching and listening to what was happening at the bank. He had little interest in the bank robbery at first "Yes, the Powerpuff Girls arrive, beat the criminal, save the day, bla bla bla" he had thought when he saw the girls bursting into the bank. Mojo began to gain interest when he noticed that the girls weren't exiting the bank right away: he used his powerful telescope to spy the girls while they were arguing and the thief knocked by Buttercup. He also sent one of his spy bugs to listen to their speech. When the bug arrived in the bank, Mojo could listen to all the conversation between the girls and Courage.

When Courage and the PPG left for the kidnapping scene, Mojo was pretty interested by the story. He was thinking of how he could use the situation for his purposes.

"Yes! Yes! With the girls trying to realize if the dog is right, I can prepare a lethal trap for the girls to destroy them at once! But how..." he remembered of the big black van that had rushed away when the girls arrived at the bank.

"Yes! All I have to do is to get in touch with this French thief... with Le Quack. He won't surely refuse to have the opportunity to rob all the banks he wants. It will be a business that will be good for each of us." Mojo Jojo grinned evilly while thinking of the shrewdness of his plan.

At the same time Mojo was creating his next evil plan, Courage and the Powerpuff Girls arrived at the 31° abandoned floor of the skyscraper.

"This place is a mess!" said Blossom when she saw the creepy appearance of the place.

"Yes, yes, let's just find what we are looking for" said Buttercup.

Courage brought the girls through the place, following the same path he had walked through with Muriel and Eustace. The thought of Muriel made Courage walking faster. They finally found the door for the Le Quack's fake office. It was opened. They entered the room: there was no sign of Le Quack or Muriel and Eustace. Courage had known that Le Quack was cunning so he wasn't surprised to not find his family. Although this, a little tear flow from his eye. He immediately tore out it from his face: Bubbles was the only one to notice this, and she felt sympathetic with Courage.

Suddenly, Buttercup blurted out "There isn't anything useful here! This stupid dog is only trying to deceive us! Can we just kick his butt and return school?".

"Patience, Buttercup" said Blossom. She was a bit annoyed, too "Do you have anything to say, Courage? Because that little sign on the door is not enough to persuade us you aren't a thief".

Courage started to say quickly "What do I do? What do I do? What do I do?!". He had no idea how to convince the Powerpuff Girls his family was in trouble.

Bubbles decided to help Courage: she flew behind the desk and searched in the various compartments there were. She finally found something: Le Quack had forgotten to empty all the compartments of the desk.

Floating above the desk, Bubbles showed her sisters the various leaflets she had found. They were all alike the leaflet that Courage had showed them before.

"Blossom, I think that Courage is right." said Bubbles, hoping that Blossom will trust her.

"But this place could be simply some type of advertising office!" protested Buttercup.

"Blossom, if Courage is right, there are two persons that are in trouble" replied Bubbles.

Blossom thought deeply for a moment, then she made a decision. She stared at Courage, who was waiting for his fate.

"Ok, Courage, at least you had me have some doubts about you" she said. Courage gave a sigh of relief.

"I have decided that we are going to look for this French duck tomorrow. We will try to discover if he is really your enemy and if he is still keeping in hostage your family" Bubbles smiled while Blossom was saying this.

"I still don't believe completely you, Courage. You will stay with us at our home: if you are a real robber, you won't have the chance to escape without alarming us or the Professor" Bubbles and Buttercup could not believe what Blossom had just said. Their reaction was quite opposite: Buttercup was starting to complain when Blossom asked directly Courage:

"Do you accept this, Courage?".

Courage simply said "Yes", and all the three girls understood him. He didn't found anything bad in staying in their house, and he would have done anything to save Muriel. He was glad to have them on his side, too, even if he was still a bit scared by them: three little girls with superpowers! If they managed to find Le Quack, he wouldn't have any chance against them, and Muriel would be saved. Courage couldn't believe that he was going to save his family without any exertion.

Therefore, Courage and the PPG finally arrived at the Utonium mansion. When the Professor saw his daughters entering the house with a pink dog, he thought the girls had taken another animal and brought it in the house once again. He was going to reprimand them when Blossom told the professor who was Courage and what was his situation.

Professor Utonium couldn't believe that little pink dog was a robber. Courage was harmless, as he was still thinking of how they would have found Muriel, and looked very sad. The girls then returned at Pokey Oaks kindergarten, so Courage was left with the Professor as long as the girls were at school. Courage watched the Professor while he was working in his laboratory. The Professor was pleased that Courage was quiet, as he was well educated by Muriel, but Courage was quiet because he was sad.

When the girls went home in the afternoon, they behaved differently with Courage. Bubbles was the only one to understand his thoughts, and she also tried to cuddle him to comfort him. Blossom and Buttercup were still hostile to him: Blossom was still suspicious about him, and Buttercup would have slammed him on the wall another time if she had had the chance.

Courage wasn't very happy, so he went to have dinner without having said a single word, apart from sighs. He sat down on a chair, then he realized that the girls and the Professor were watching him, surprised. He tried to explain that in Nowhere he used to have dinner on the table like any other person, unless Eustace told him to get out of it. He then started to complain about Eustace (Courage didn't have many friends in Nowhere to talk with, and the few he had could meet him for little time. This was an occasion for him to pour out his thoughts). Courage didn't hate him, but she was still bothered by his behaviour.

Buttercup was listening to Courage, and when he described the ugly mask he used to terrify him, she had a wicked idea.

"Excuse me, but I have to go to the toilet" she said, then she flew away from the kitchen.

Instead of going to the toilet, Buttercup entered her bedroom. She searched in the furniture, then she opened the wardrobe and searched it too. She finally found something: a big, ugly mask. The mask was very similar to Eustace's one, but it was less weird and more similar to a wolf. It was used by Buttercup for Halloween. She smiled while thinking what joke she was going to play on the poor Courage.

Courage was about to finish his last speech about Muriel, when the table began to shiver. He was frightened. "What's going on?" said Blossom while her and Bubbles have positioned themselves, ready for everything.

Suddenly, Buttercup raised from below the table, wearing the wolf mask. She tried to emit a terrifying scream, but she was laughing so hard that all she could do was a "Buga buga bugaaaa!", just as Eustace did. Blossom, Bubbles and the Professor were watching her, astonished. That wasn't the case for Courage.

Fuzzy Lumpkins was sleeping on his rocking chair when suddenly a loud scream coming from Townsville awoke him. He quickly got angry. "Who is disturbing me?" he shouted, and he started to uproot the trees near his house, furious, searching for the intruder.

There was a weird scene at the girl's house. Buttercup had taken off the mask and was laughing on the floor, as she couldn't stand up or float correctly. Bubbles was very angry with his sister, and also the professor wasn't happy about the situation. Courage had jumped on Blossom's head, and he was still there, shuddering and frightened. Blossom was quite annoyed by the fact that a dog was hiding in her hair.

"That was very bad, Buttercup!" said Bubbles.

"Ahahah! I didn't think he was so coward! This has been amazing! I should do this another..." said Buttercup, but the Professor hushed her with a gesture. He gently took Courage from Blossom's head, who then started to control her hair.

"Buttercup, Bubbles is right" said the Professor "It is not kind to scare a guest like this".

"But he isn't our guest! He is a criminal, don't you remember he has tried to rob the bank? He..." she was stopped another time by the Professor.

"This doesn't justify your actions, Buttercup. Besides, we aren't sure he is a dangerous criminal..." he watched Courage that wasn't listening but still shuddering "...and I don't think he could be a very bad one." Blossom watched Courage when he listened this last sentence. If she had not found him robbing a bank, she would have sworn that dog wouldn't have hurt a fly.

"Now, let's just have dinner calmly." said the Professor. Buttercup took a seat alongside of her sisters, moaning something, while Courage, that had not completely recovered, sat on the opposite side of the table.

While they were eating, Courage watched various times the three girls. He was curious to know about them and their story, and he also wanted to break the silence that fell in the house.

Finally, he succeeded in saying something "So...you have superpowers, haven't you?" he said. Luckily, he had spoken correctly, and they could understand him immediately.

Bubbles giggled. "Of course, yes, we have!" she answered.

"It is true, Courage, my daughters are real superheroes" said Professor Utonium. "and I bet you want to know how did they gained them." He finished to eat the meat he was chewing. "Well, actually they _were born_ with superpowers. I was trying to create the perfect little girl using three ingredients: sugar, spice, and everything nice. While preparing the mixture, I accidentally add an extra ingredient to the concoction: this black, mysterious substance, the "Chemical X". There was a big explosion, then I looked at the pot and saw that I had created not one but three, perfect, little girls..." while saying this, she glanced at her daughters and smiled "...three girls that had various superpowers, too".

"We then decided to dedicate our lives to defend our city, Townsville, from any dangers" said Blossom.

"We fight evil beings and mean people!" said Bubbles.

"And we beat up all types of criminals and bad ones!" concluded Buttercup, while looking at Courage with a fierce look.

Courage was amazed by their story. He thought of Le Quack, being smashed by the girls and slammed in the jail at once. He also thought of Eustace and Muriel being rescued by the girls. The thought of Muriel made Courage so sad he stopped to eat.

After dinner, it was time to go to bed, as it was quite late. Courage would have accepted to sleep everywhere, even outside, but Bubbles felt sorry for the joke Buttercup had done to him, so while they were preparing to sleep, she said "Courage, would you sleep on our bed? I think you will be more comfortable than on that old pillow on the floor". Blossom and Buttercup watched Bubbles, as they didn't agree about this offer, but Bubbles hushed them with a gesture.

In fact, Courage was not Talking Dog. He went to bed before the girls did, and when they entered the bedroom with the Professor, Courage was already sleeping on the bed, as he was really tired. He was in the same place where he slept on the Bagge's bed in Nowhere, so he wouldn't have bothered much the girls, at least if he had not nightmares.

The girls went to bed calmly, without awakening Courage. The Professor sat down near them.

"Girls, I don't think he is a bad guy. He seems to be frightened and sad. How could this poor dog be an infamous bank robber?" he said in a low voice to the girls.

"Professor, remember that he truly tried to rob the bank" whispered Blossom.

"And he also took an hostage! He was determined!" said Buttercup while trying to be as quiet as she could.

"That's right, Buttercup. But would you rob the bank as he did, if I was kidnapped by someone who then blackmailed you and you couldn't do anything to save me?"

"We have superpowers! There is no one in the world that would stop us from protecting you." replied Buttercup.

"Yes, indeed. But Courage is not a superhero, he is a normal dog." said the Professor. Buttercup kept silent.

"I hope we will find and save his family tomorrow" said Bubbles.

"Yes, and to do this you should take a little rest as Courage is doing" suggested the Professor. He was right, so the girls lay down.

"Good night, little angels" said the Professor while kissing them. He exited the door quietly and went to bed on his own.


	3. Mojo Jojo's Plan

Chapter 3: Mojo Jojo's Plan

That night, Le Quack was squawking in a skyscraper's basement within the Townsville city centre. Muriel and Eustace were still closed in the cages. He was very angry because his plan didn't work. "At least, I don't have to escape the prison again" he said to himself. He had no idea that Townsville was protected by not one but three superheroes. "Argh! Stupid, little girls!" he shouted "How could I be so stupid?". His current plan was to get rid of his hostages and then move to another city, make sure that there weren't superheroes there, and attempt again to do the contest trick.

He was considering how to eliminate Eustace and Muriel when someone made his appearance in the basement. A small, green skinned monkey was standing in front of them. He was wearing a strange dress, with a purple cape and a big helmet above his head. Le Quack, Muriel and Eustace were all surprised by his presence.

"Ohh, what a cute ape!" said Muriel.

"Who are you? Another competitor? Well, you have no chance against me: I will win the 3000 dollars!" said, unhappy, Eustace.

Muriel reprimanded him: "Eustace! Don't you realize that we have been captured by the promoter of the contest?".

"Bla bla bla!" replied Eustace, but they were hushed by Le Quack.

"Silence!" he ordered, then he stared at the intruder. "Who are you? How could you find the hiding place of the great Le Quack?" he said.

"Who am I?" I am Mojo Jojo, and I am the evillest and most intelligent being in Townsville! And I also live there, so I know the city better than you..." Le Quack was wondering what was the target of this weird guy "...but this doesn't matter. I have an offer for you, an offer that will interest you. You see, I hate the Powerpuff Girls, the superheroes that ruined your plan, and I can sense you hate that pink dog...".

"Wait a second: every time that stupid dog gets involved in one of my plan, these always fail. He is indeed a inconvenience. But I don't care much about him, I prefer to think about money and being rich" replied Le Quack, who was interested by that guy but still didn't trust him completely.

"Well, how about having the chance to rob the bank of Townsville and other "special places" without bothers?" asked him Mojo.

The French thief was now _very_ interested.

"You should help me, Le Quack. I have an evil plan to destroy at once the Powerpuff Girls... but I need your help. In fact I need them..." he pointed out Muriel and Eustace "...to create a lethal trap: they are now looking for them. When the cursed girls will be destroyed, no obstacles will impede us: I will take over the world and you will do your job easily."

"You are not a cute monkey, you are a bad one!" said Muriel, sitting on the ground in his cage.

"Silence!" shouted Le Quack. He was lured by Mojo Jojo's offer, even if the image of a monkey ruling the world was quite unlikely to happen.

"So, Le Quack, do this tempt you? Are you accepting my offer?" asked Mojo Jojo.

Le Quack watched him without saying anything for a moment. Then, he offered his hand.

Mojo Jojo grinned, and they shook their hands. They then started to laugh in their very own but still evil way.

"Oh my! Poor little girls! I hope that Courage will be able to protect them from this crazy ape!" cried Muriel.

"Who cares about three stupid girls, I want my prize! I want a new TV!" cried Eustace.

The next morning, Courage and the Powerpuff Girls woke up. They had a terrible night: Courage had been tortured by nightmares involving Muriel all the time, and every time he was awoken by them, he screamed loudly, awakening the girls. Blossom and Bubbles had to stop Buttercup from hurting Courage various times. Courage couldn't do anything to stop this, even if he was sorry for the problem. The result was that they were all four tired.

They had breakfast with the Professor. The girls were already thinking where to start the research for Le Quack, but the Professor told them "Ok girls, time to go to school! You will help Courage when you will return after midday".

Courage was sad as he wanted to start right away to look for Muriel. The Professor knew that, so he said to Courage "I know that your family could be in trouble, but I can't just stop the girls from going to school for a suspected thief, do you realize that?". Courage nodded his head, but he was still sad in face. "I'm going to do the shopping this morning: you will go with me and help me. Perhaps you will still have the chance to look for clues or something like them while we move." Courage was little comforted: how could he search for clues in supermarkets? Still, it was better than staying in the Utonium house, closed in.

The girls were also annoyed by the fact that they couldn't solve Courage's case by now, but they knew that the Professor was right.

The girls left for school in the same time the Professor and Courage were leaving for the city centre.

Courage didn't know he was going to meet again with the girls soon.

Fuzzy Lumpkins woke up that morning very angry. The previous evening, after he had calmed himself down, he tried to sleep but he couldn't as that scream had terrified him for a moment. That morning he was furious with the one that emitted that yell.

"Why can't a Lumpkin sleep like anybody else? If I find the one responsible for my problems, I will crush him!" he shouted. He started to run, heading to Townsville, red in face.

The news that Fuzzy Lumpkins was moving through the city destroying everything he encountered quickly spread out. The hotline at Pokey Oaks Kindergarten rang after little time.

Meanwhile, Courage and the Professor had entered a department store. While the Professor was picking up things from the shelves, Courage was watching his surroundings without finding anything interesting or useful. It was quite boring.

"Courage, I have finished. Let's go to the check-out" said the Professor.

They walked towards the check-out. They were about to reach it when Fuzzy Lumpkins, who was raging in the street, broke into the department store. Courage was so scared that he screamed. Fuzzy suddenly stopped and calmed down. He rotated his body and watched Courage. He was starting to get very, very, angry, much angrier than he was just before.

"YOU! YOU are the one who had made that noise last night! YOU had prevented me from sleeping quietly! If I catch you, I will squash you like an insect!" he threatened, then he started to run towards Courage, furious. The pink dog immediately started to run away from him, too. Professor Utonium almost dodged Fuzzy, who didn't care about him.

In a minute, the department store was devastated by Fuzzy, who was pursuing Courage. Courage tried to hide behind trolleys, climb on shelves and escape through the check-boxes, but Fuzzy always managed to destroy all the obstacles and continued to pursue Courage.

Then, Courage rotated his head too see behind himself, and bumped into a wall. He fell on the ground, tired and beaten, and watched a big, angry, livid red Fuzzy coming towards him. Courage thought it was the end.

Suddenly, Courage heard a whistling sound that had already become familiar to him. Before Fuzzy could do another step, the Powerpuff Girls rushed into the store.

"Not so fast, Fuzzy Lumpkins" they said, then they quickly went against Fuzzy and started to fight him.

A thick cloud of dust was created, preventing Courage from watching what was happening in front of him. Finally, the fighting sounds suddenly disappeared. Courage was worried: "Girls?" he called, hoping he was understandable.

When the dust cleared, Courage saw an epic scene: Fuzzy was laying on the floor, beaten. Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup were standing on his stomach, victorious. They all three smiled at Courage, even Buttercup. Courage was stunned: Fuzzy seemed to be an unbeatable enemy, even stronger than many enemies he had engaged, but the Powerpuff Girls took care of him without any strain.

The unexpected event pushed the girls to ask Ms. Keane to have the first part of the afternoon free from school, in order to deal with Courage's case. They luckily had an affirmative answer, so they could return home for lunch time.

When they arrived, Courage was watching the Professor working with a strange object. He was so concentrated he had not started to to prepare lunch yet. The sight of the girls reminded the Professor what time it was.

"Oh! I'm sorry, girls. I forgot to watch the time, and Courage didn't show me he was hungry. I will go to the kitchen right away" he apologized.

"No problem, Professor. We will just wait" said Blossom.

Courage was glad to have the girls looking for Muriel earlier. The less time they wasted without doing anything, the more possibilities they would have to find Muriel and Eustace unharmed.

Blossom and Buttercup were still a bit suspicious about Courage, but they were less hostile than the previous day. However, their doubts would have been completely cancelled early.

The Professor was cooking in the kitchen, and the girls and Courage were waiting in the living room, talking about their next move, when the doorbell rang. "I will get it" said the Professor while stopping working and coming towards the door. He opened it. "Hello! How can I be of service?" he said, but he realized that there was no one outside.

Bubbles had followed the Professor. "Who was at the door?" she asked.

"I don't know, maybe some kind of children playing jokes with the doorbells. Come on, let's get inside" he said, but he was stopped by Bubbles.

"Professor, wait! Blossom, Buttercup, Courage, come here!" she said. Blossom and Buttercup immediately flew to her. Courage had to take a little more time to catch up with them.

Bubbles had seen a small paper left on the ground in front of the door. She picked it up and showed it to the others. There was a message written on it, in French.

Buttercup was shocked. "Blossom, can it be...?" she said.

"Yes, It can. Or, to be more accurate, it _is"_ answered Blossom. There was a signature at the bottom of the letter: Le Quack.

"OK, everybody calm out" ordered the Professor "I have a computer in my laboratory, let's use it to translate this message".

Courage followed the girls and the Professor down in the Professor's laboratory. He was frightened at what that letter could contain. One thing was certain: in that message there was the fate of his family.

The Professor used his personal computer to translate the message, then he printed it. Blossom was floating above the printer, so she took the paper and read out the message, now in English.

"I have still in hostage Muriel and Eustace. If you want to see them another time, you will have to go to the address written on this paper. There, we will decide what is the _price _for their lives. See you later this night at eleven PM, Courage!"

"The price for them will be you being kicked right on the beak!" said Buttercup, that was a bit angry about the fact that a dumb duck was trying to blackmail the Powerpuff Girls.

"I don't know how he could know that you, Courage, were in our home." said the Professor. He had doubts about the letter.

"Still, Professor, I don't think we have other choices than to go to the appointment" said Blossom. Courage feared what might have happened there: they couldn't know what was Le Quack's next trick.

Bubbles watched Courage and discovered his anxiety. He was looking down, thoughtful. She reassured him: "Don't be worried, Courage" she said "We are the Powerpuff Girls. Le Quack could even be the smartest duck in the United States, but he still would have no chance against us!". She put his hand on Courage shoulder. "I promise you I will save your family" she said.

Courage raised his head. Blossom and Buttercup agreed with Bubbles.

"I promise, too, Courage. Nothing bad will happen to Muriel or Eustace" said Blossom.

"So do I. We will defeat Le Quack and slam him into the jail at once!" said Buttercup.

A little tear came out of Courage's eye. It was the first time in his life that some one else was really concerned about his family and was helping him rescue it. Yes, of course Shirley the Medium, Dr. Vindaloo and Charlie the Rat had helped him various times, but none of them was like the Powerpuff Girls. They were... too kind.

He was astonished, but he was not even worried any more.

All Courage could say was "Thank you... thank you very, very, much". He sighed in relief: thank goodness he had those three special girls helping him!

They spent the afternoon thinking of a method to save Courage's family and capture the French thief.

What Courage and the Powerpuff Girls didn't know was that Le Quack was not alone. They were not even aware of the fact that Le Quack not only was expecting the PPG to go with Courage, but he was also ready for their arrival.

Mojo Jojo's plan had successfully begun.


	4. Final Face-Off

Chapter 4: Final Face-Off

The address found by the girls and Courage didn't bring to one's of Le Quack's hiding places, neither one's of Mojo Jojo's hideouts such as the laboratory located over the volcano. Instead, it was the address of a big, abandoned parking lot. The car park was composed of eight levels: the highest four had not no walls closing them. The construction site was stopped because of a monster attack that had previously damaged the building. The entire car park was mean to be demolished early, as there weren't plans to repair the damages in the dangerous basement.

Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup and Courage finally left the house at about a quarter to eleven PM. Courage was still being carried by Bubbles. They spent a few minutes to reach their destination and discover the abandoned car park. They were perfectly in time: five minutes to 11 PM.

The Powerpuff Girls slowed down and entered the fifth floor while floating quietly, in order to not alert Le Quack. They know he was waiting for them, but they still didn't want to make him tense: he had Courage's family as hostage.

Courage was no more frightened of flying with them, but he still had to recover a little from the flight. When he felt he was ready, he gave a sign to the girls, who immediately hid in the darkness. There were only a few working lights in the car park, and the moon wasn't helping much in lighting the place, so there were many areas in the parking lot that were in complete dark.

Courage started to walk through the path that cars would have used to go down to the fourth floor. The plan was simple: waiting to Le Quack to appear and face Courage, then the girls would have rushed him with a surprise attack in order to catch him.

Courage had been walking for a minute, thinking of how was Muriel in that moment, when he heard her screaming in the floor below. He changed from walking to running. "Muriel! I will save you!" he shouted.

He finally reached the final part of the car park's level and descended quickly. When he entered the fourth, Courage gasped.

In front of him, there were both Muriel and Eustace, bound to the side of the same black van Le Quack had used two days before. Le Quack itself was present, standing near the vehicle. He had a feather in his hand and it was like he was threatening Muriel with that. Le Quack had used that to make Muriel screaming, fortunately not for pain but for tickle.

"Courage!" said Muriel when she recognized his dog. "It is a trap! You and the girls are in.." Muriel could not finish his speech as Le Quack hushed her with sticky tape.

"Stupid dog! Why didn't you call the police?" complained Eustace, but he could say no more as Le Quack closed his mouth in the same way.

"You! Stop harming my family!" shouted Courage. He feared for Muriel, but was also angry with his enemy.

"Huh? Are you just giving me an order? This is funny, isn't it?" said Le Quack mockingly. "How could you even think to beat me, little pink dog, without any help?"

"Because, in fact, I'm not alone!" and while saying this, three coloured glowing eyes appeared behind him.

"Well, in this case, our pact is no longer valid!" said Le Quack, then he took once again his remote controller, which had been modified, and pressed a new button on it.

The van immediately start to accelerate very quickly, and the vehicle started to move fast, pointing towards the car park wall. Eustace and Muriel would have screamed if they have had the chance, but they had not as their mouth were closed by the sticky tape.

Courage tried to run against the van in order to try to stop it, but it was too fast. The vehicle crushed the parking lot wall, passed through it and jumped in the air. Muriel and Eustace weren't harmed as they were bound to the side of the vehicle, but still they were falling with the van towards the street in front of the building.

A red beam abruptly lightened the parking lot: it exited through the wall's hole and headed for the flying van. Within a few seconds, Blossom picked up the van in air and stopped it. Meanwhile, Bubbles and Buttercup had revealed themselves and were staring at Le Quack, who was astonished or at least seemed to be that.

"Courage, you can go for your family now" said Bubbles, without moving his gaze away from Le Quack.

"Yes, we will take care of this duck by ourself!" said Buttercup, whose gaze was more threatening than Bubbles' one.

Courage gave a sigh of relief and bolted down to the exit of the parking lot.

Blossom had carried the van down and had put it softly on the ground near the abandoned structure.

"Thank you, little cute girl" said Muriel "But watch o...". She couldn't finish because Blossom started to talk, too.

"I'm sorry, lady Bagge, but there isn't much time left. I must go help my sisters! We will meet you later!" she said fast.

"But..." Muriel would have warned her, as she knew of the trap prepared for the girls, but Blossom had just flown away towards the fourth floor of the building.

Inside the parking lot, Bubbles and her sister were still keeping Le Quack at bay. "So, little duck, do you have something to say before we fry you?" asked Buttercup, who was hardly watching herself from rushing right away to the duck and slamming him on the wall. "I never tried fried duck before!" she said.

"It isn't what you are thinking of... we can talk about it!" said Le Quack, who seemed to be frightened.

In that moment, Blossom destroyed the ceiling and landed between her sisters.

"Where is Courage?" she said when she didn't found any pink dog in the area.

"I have let him go to meet his family" said Bubbles. Blossom agreed with her decision: there was no longer need to get Courage in trouble.

The Powerpuff Girls then stared at the French thief. He had unexpectedly changed his expression. He was no longer frightened; instead, he was smiling with a wicked face. The girls noticed it, but thought there was no chance for Le Quack against them, so they were confident to catch him.

"Le Quack! Surrender by now, and we would not hurt you!" ordered Blossom, his hand pointing to the French duck.

They began to slowly walk towards Le Quack, who was still standing without moving, calm.

"You are alone, criminal! You'd better surrender!" shouted Blossom, who was losing her patience. Buttercup and Bubbles were only waiting for her giving them a sign.

"Alone? Well, that is not pretty much the case, little pests!" replied Le Quack.

Bubbles noticed something under his foot. But it was too late: three mines were detonated under them! But they were no normal mines. Instead of exploding with a big blast, they released a big amount of a strange, green, gas. The gas poisoned the girls, who quickly started to cough violently.

"What the...!" could only say Buttercup before her and her sisters fainted and feel on the ground. The gas was very effective because it was a closed floor of the building, with no windows: the hole created by the van wasn't very big, so not enough wind was let inside the place to clear quickly the gas from the air.

"YES!" said an evil voice "YES! I have made it! Now, if you excuse me, my business partner, I have to achieve my revenge!". Mojo Jojo was now visible under one of the running lights. He had a remote controller, similar to Le Quack's one but more complex, in his hand.

The girls couldn't find him with their super vision as he hid behind a special shield he invented, positioned in the darkness.

"Yes, I think our pact had been successful." said Le Quack, while laughing. He shook his hands with Mojo Jojo. "Now I also have to do my job. Au Revoir!" he said, then he walked down using the building's stairs.

Mojo Jojo was now alone in the car park, not counting our three heroines.

He grinned evilly and activated his remote. Suddenly, some of the old, ruined cars that were parked there started to shudder. Then, they transformed themselves. They were actually morphing into big, heavy lasers! Indeed, the cars were fake and hid their real contents.

"You should know, actually in the past I saw that a single laser couldn't seriously harm you. So I had an idea: why not only powering the laser, but also using more than one?" and 10 lasers were correctly created when he finished this sentence.

"Ten lasers are hard to aim at three moving targets, of course. But how about one, unmoving one? Well, the answer is, TOTAL ANNILHATION!" he said.

The girls were listening to him.

Along with the shield, the gas was one of Mojo Jojo last and most powerful inventions. It worked differently from other poisonous gases he used against the girls. The gas operated on the muscles of the victim with the purpose of disabling them, rather than damaging his brain, his organs or the muscles themselves, and the result was the target being completely paralysed.

But there was another characteristic that made the gas not more powerful but more evil: as described before, the gas did not act on the mind of the target.

The girls had first fainted, but they recovered in little time. They were capable of hearing and watching with half-closed eyes their surroundings, but they were still completely paralysed by the gas, unable to move.

Mojo Jojo wasn't explaining his plan to himself, just for his delight: he was actually talking with the girls!

The wicked ape was now laughing at the girls. "Now, my little enemies, you will know the power of my machines! Then, you won't have the chance to know anything ELSE!".

The girls had little energy to even move their hands. They could only speak as loud as a whisper. All they could do was watching Mojo, that was activating and testing the lasers one by one quietly. In this moment, Bubbles started to cry, but his crying was more similar to a wheeze with tears. The Powerpuff Girls destiny was like to be determined.

Courage had managed to exit the car park and was running in the surroundings of the building when he saw the black van and two persons near it. He rushed to the van, and when he recognized Muriel, he jumped on her arms, hugging her. "Muriel!" he bellowed, glad to see her unharmed.

"Oh Courage! I am so happy see you" said Muriel while hugging him back.

In the meantime, Eustace was walking forward and backward. "Argh!" he shouted, an angry look on his face.

"Muriel! This trip was useless. Let's get out of here and return Nowhere: maybe some other leaflets have arrived at home." he was turning to watch Muriel when she slammed her rolling pin on Eustace's head. "Ouch!" moaned Eustace "What did I do?!".

Muriel was now watching Courage, a worried look in her face. She put her dog on the ground. Courage was thinking of what could be worrying Muriel in that moment.

"Courage, your friends are in danger! That duck had prepared a trap with a fiendish green monkey for them! You should return there and give them a warning!" said Muriel.

"Yes, and going in that hazardous car park again! No way!" thought Courage while making a "No" sound, shaking his head. Muriel didn't know how much powerful the girls were. Courage remembered of their fight with Fuzzy Lumpkins at the department store. He decided that they could take care of a little green ape without his help.

Suddenly, some metallic noises coming from the building were heard by Muriel and Courage. They were the fake cars transforming themselves in lethal lasers.

"Courage! Are you hearing this?" asked Muriel. Courage couldn't lie to Muriel, so he nodded his head.

"Don't you realize? They are in danger! You must absolutely go and help the girls right now!" said Muriel, almost shouting "I pray you, Courage: go!".

Courage was going to say another time "No" when his canine ears heard another sound coming from above. Muriel couldn't hear that, but it wasn't necessary.

Courage listened to Mojo Jojo speech. He was terrorized, but he listened to another thing: Bubbles who was crying.

Muriel didn't need to continue to try to persuade Courage: he walked towards the parking lot main entrance while muttering "The things I do for love!".

"Be careful, Courage" said Muriel "and stop that monkey! You can do it!"

Courage wasn't secure of being able to beat an enormous, bad, green monkey (yes, his opinion about the 'green ape' changed a bit). But, despite his fears, he continued to walk. He was still listening to Bubbles' crying.

He was determined to save them, even though it was a risky thing. After all they did for him, he couldn't simply leave them to their fate.

* * *

Final chapter is coming as soon as possible.


	5. Courage, the Cowardly Hero

Chapter 5: Courage, the Cowardly Hero

Courage was now moving upstairs through the parking lot. He didn't know what he would have done when he found the girls, but he surely would have done something. He could listen to switches being activated, along with the girls' whispers.

"There must be something we can do!" said Buttercup, while moving a little her arm with the same intensity she would have used to lift a battle cruiser.

"I think... I think that..." began to whisper Blossom, but she was stopped by her green sister.

"Do. Not. Say. That. Don't even think of it!" said Buttercup. She would have shouted if she had owned enough vigour.

Bubbles was still crying. They were all three laying on the floor, with Mojo Jojo switching on the last lasers.

Courage arrived at the forth level of the car park while Jojo was walking towards the ninth laser. He recognized the green monkey as the one Muriel had talked off. He watched himself from screaming when he saw the 10 lasers pointing at the girls. Eight were already turned on.

Courage asked himself why the girls were unable to move, but he decided he would have known the answer later. They needed his help!

He started to crawl as quick as he could without making too much noise, between the lasers and some real cars (the first four floors of the building had been opened to public for a while), rushing from one dark spot to another. His plan was to try to sneak behind the green ape and stun him. There were some rocks in the area, debris of the old construction site. They would have worked well.

He was now quite near to Mojo Jojo, who was finishing to inspect the second to last laser. He was singing a very ugly song of victory. Courage decided to pick up one of the rocks in order to deal with Mojo.

When he exited his hiding place to take the "weapon", Bubbles saw him. She suddenly stopped to cry.

Her sisters were still arguing when they noticed that Bubbles had stopped to cry. She was smiling to someone. They looked at what she was watching to, and they recognized Courage. The three sisters were now thanking heaven Courage was there to help them.

Unfortunately, the girls unwittingly alerted Mojo. He noticed that no more sounds where coming from the girls' position. He leaned a little from the laser he was controlling and he saw the girls were still here. Then, he watched where the girls were watching to, and he realised that there was a little, pink, doggy intruder.

"Uh?" he said, surprised from Courage appearance. Later, he suddenly started to laugh.

"Oh, no!" cried Bubbles when she realized the error they had done.

"Oh, yes!" replied Mojo Jojo, an evil look on his face.

"Very, very well. So, you, tiny dog, you were sneaking upon me, uh? You were trying to attack me with surprise? Indeed, that was a good plan. Thank you girls for helping me!" he said grinning. The girls were at the same time furious and sorry for what they had done.

Even though Courage was now terrorized, he managed to gave a calm glimpse to the girls. "It is not your fault" he said to them.

"But it wasn't enough effective to defeat me, Mojo Jojo!" bellowed Mojo Jojo. He was very annoyed for the interruption.

"Now, I didn't wish to have further heroes bothering me while I'm realizing my vengeance. So, you wanted to be a hero, didn't you? Well, a hero you will be! A true, famous hero, loved by everyone! An universally recognized hero for his heroic but useless DEATH!" he shouted. Then, he drew a lethal weapon: a large laser rifle. Ineffective against groups of girls with super powers, efficient against coward dogs.

"Good bye, little dog!" he said. Afterwards, he started to fire at Courage.

Courage began to run as fast as he could, trying to avoid the rifle's shots. Luckily, he had the chance to evade being fried by the laser beams, but Mojo owned a lot of ammunition. The monkey was slowly walking towards Courage while shooting, so they moved through the entire parking lot's floor.

Courage was thinking about some ideas to stop Mojo Jojo. While escaping, he watched the girls, who were very worried, then he watched the lasers. Something ran to his mind.

He started to evade Mojo's shots by hiding behind the lasers and escaping between them. At least, he would destroy the lasers, or even the beams would be reflected by the metallic structure and hit Mojo himself. Nothing of this happened: Mojo's aim was perfect and he made no errors.

"Ah!" he shouted "My exercises in the firing rage I have built in my laboratory have been worth the strain! Sorry, 'hero', but Mojo Jojo is not going to blunder this time!".

He didn't hit even one laser. In addition, his ability was weakening Courage, who was losing more strength every second. Mojo never let him to recover.

"What do I do? What do I do?" thought Courage while beginning to run slower and slower. Then, Mojo shot a precise beam which finally hit Courage directly in the rear end.

"AARRGH!" screamed Courage, who was shot out by the beam. At high speed he finished his flight slamming into a wall, exactly in the same way Buttercup had slammed him two days before.

He fell on the ground, giving a laugh for the pain. Even so, he could not faint, as he saw Mojo moving towards him, his laser rifle aiming at him.

He was grinning. "And yes, another enemy falls facing Mojo Jojo! I am unstoppable! When the cursed girls will be wiped out, nothing will hold me from taking my place as ruler of the world! And you, _stupid dog_. You will not annoy me any more, because you are going to be the first to be DESTROYED!" he said.

He charged his weapon for a slower but more powerful, final shot. Courage watched the girls, who were still laying on the ground of the parking lot. Blossom and Bubbles had tears on their eyes, and Buttercup had a very sad look. He smiled at them, while thinking "I'm sorry, I could not help you". Unexpectedly, he wasn't frightened by the proximity of the end. He was going to close his eyes...

...but at last he didn't close them. He suddenly noticed that alongside of him there was a huge electrical plug attached to the wall! It was just like the one that the Chicken from Outer Space used to charge his spaceship when he had gone to Nowhere to take revenge against Courage.

Courage could not believe that there was some hope, but he decided to try instead of thinking when he saw Mojo finishing to charge his rifle and aiming at him. He grabbed the plug, took it from the socket and threw it away.

An electrical sound was heard, then everything disappeared into pitch dark.

"What the...?!" said Mojo Jojo in the sudden darkness. It worked! The parking lot had now not a single light turned on. The lasers were also switched off. As it was a closed level of the building, the moon didn't lighten enough the place to see correctly through it.

"CURSES! STUPID DOG, come here and I will roast you!" shouted Mojo Jojo, who was furious. He started to fire his rifle at random targets, trying to hit an invisible enemy. He indeed had forgotten to add a tactical torch on his weapon, in addition to have left a critical socket uncovered

Courage moved away to avoid the shots, then he realized that the light produced by the laser beams was helping him in localizing Mojo.

Courage walked quickly behind the green monkey, colliding with various walls, cars and a laser in the process. He knew he had to be fast: even though Mojo was now shooting randomly, he could still hit him or the weakened girls, who were somewhere in the darkness.

"CURSE YOU, STUPID DOG!" bellowed Mojo Jojo, now in complete rage. But before he could say anything else, Courage leaped and rushed on him. They started to fight each other, Mojo trying to shoot Courage in the head and Courage trying to steal the weapon.

Finally, Courage kicked Mojo in the face and, while he was stunned, he took the laser rifle. In the frenzy of the battle, Courage did the thirst thing he could think about using a laser rifle kept by the barrel: he swung the gun like a baseball bat in the darkness.

A 'THUD' sound was heard, then something fell on the ground. Now there was complete silence in the building.

Courage was not sure of what had happened. His canine eyes were not helping him. Instead, his ears would have have been useful.

"Courage?" a voice whispered. No evil, monkey-like voice. Instead, it was a cute, female one.

"Courage? Come here. Can you hear me?" said again the voice. "Yes, I do! I'm coming!" answered Courage. Although it was hard to talk after have run for ages, have been hit by a laser, have been slammed into a wall and then have fought with a monkey, he was sure that the speaker could understand him. Indeed, the voice continued to speak in order to guide Courage, who could detect the spot where the sound was coming with his canine ears.

Thus, Courage stumbled on something and feel on the ground. Then, someone started to hug him, stroke his fur and give him pats on his shoulder. It had feel just exactly between the Powerpuff Girls, who were still paralysed.

"Courage!" said Bubbles, who was the owner of the voice that guided Courage. "You did it!" she said, cheerful. She was the one who was hugging him.

"Yes! You've saved us, Courage! You are a hero!" said Blossom, thankful. She was the one who was stroking his fur.

"Yeah! And you kicked that ape's butt pretty hard! Not bad!" said Buttercup, his voice full of respect. She was, finally, the one who was patting him.

After the thanksgivings, Courage was finally let to leave them. The girls were still unable to move without help, but the gas effects were slowly vanishing from them. Thanks to this, the girls could use their supervision.

Courage moved through the parking lot, guided by Blossom, Bubbles and Buttercup. They helped him in finding the plug and then where to attach it.

Courage was now trying to insert the plug in the darkness. Even though what had happened, he could not believe he had just beaten a powerful villain. Yes, you can say he was lucky to find the electrical socket, but it was Mojo's fault, who accidentally forgot about it. Courage had still taken advantage of his mistake in the best way possible, and both the girls and Courage himself were aware of this fact.

Thus, he finally managed to insert the plug. All the working lights were lightened up, and the noise of the lasers, which still had to be reactivated after a black-out and therefore they were harmless now, spread in the building.

Courage whirled, and saw Mojo Jojo laying on the ground, beaten, with a big crack on his helmet, revealing his abnormal brain. He had passed out when Courage had hit him with the rifle.

Some metres away from him, there were the Powerpuff Girls, who were now able to sat on the ground. They were all smiling at Courage.

After three days of nightmares, an happy look finally appeared on Courage's face. It was over.

The day after, the bank of Townsville opened in the morning. Suddenly, a _white_ van arrived and stopped in front of the bank. Then, a French duck you should know exited the vehicle. He had his face hidden by a balaclava, and he was holding a gas canister on his hand, a little present from Mojo Jojo.

He entered the bank, an perfect plan in his mind, the smell of money within his nose. He was going to throw the grenade in the crowd, when he was touched from behind, like someone wanted to talk with him. Surprised, he whirled. Now in front of him there was a grinning Buttercup.

"Well, someone here had chosen the wrong ally, hadn't him?" said Buttercup.

Le Quack was bewildered, and he didn't answer. Buttercup had not enough patience to wait, so she grabbed him, lifted him from the ground and slammed him into the wall that had been repaired the day before.

One of the receptionists said: "Ouff... all times, always the same thing...".

At lunch time, there were guests at the Utonium mansion. The Professor and the girls had invited Muriel, Eustace and Courage, who had passed the night at the hotel, to stay with them for lunch. Eustace wasn't happy as he would have returned home as fast as he could, but Muriel couldn't refuse as she saw how Courage was happy about this.

When they arrived, they found the Professor cooking the meal. A huge table had been prepared in the living room, with seven chairs prepared under it.

Muriel started to talk with the Professor and help him. She was delighted by the knowledge of the Professor in kitchen's things, and discussed with him until everything was ready.

Eustace unexpectedly became of good humour when he saw the big, 40 inches LED tv set that was located in the living room. He sat up on the armchair and turned on it with the remote. He was stunned by the quality of the video and the audio. "Eheheh!" he laughed.

Courage was watching his surroundings: there was no sign of his friends. The Professor noticed this, so he called the PPGs: "Girls! The Bagges have just arrived!".

Courage heard footsteps, then he saw the Powerpuff Girls running downstairs from their bedroom. They had the happiest look Courage had ever seen on someone's face. Even though the effects of the gas were still present, so they weren't able to fly correctly, the girls were nevertheless capable of walking with their legs.

Courage spent the minutes before lunch and the afternoon with the girls. They all had a very good time, playing and doing all sort of things.. Even Buttercup was glad to spend time with Courage, so much that she asked Courage to forgive her about the mask's joke, without being requested to do so!

Actually, _everyone_ who was inside the house was having a good time.

However, the time to leave arrived. It was late in the afternoon, and Muriel wanted to go home at least before it was midnight.

"It is late, we should go by now!" said Muriel. He called Eustace from the armchair and Courage from the girls' room. For once, the farmer and the dog agreed, as they both didn't want to leave (with their own reasons obviously).

"Muriel!" moaned Eustace while turning off the beautiful TV.

Courage was sad when he went to meet Muriel downstairs. The girls followed him.

"Oh, Professor Utonium! Don't mind about this, I loved staying there, but I wouldn't exploit of your kindness any more! We should really return home" said Muriel.

"Never mind, Muriel. You are welcome in our house!" said Professor with an happy look.

"Well, I see that both Courage and Eustace have a good time here. We will surely return to visit you, if this doesn't annoy you! And who knows, a day we may have the chance to return the favour!" said Muriel.

"That is a very nice idea!" said Bubbles, giggling. Buttercup and Blossom watched themselves and then nodded their heads.

"Yes, yes, whatever..." said Eustace. Kids and a weird scientist in his house? Not a beautiful idea, but he remembered of the TV and he decided to not complain.

"So.. Goodbye!" said Muriel while giving a wave to the girls and the Professor.

At that moment, Courage had a little mean idea he couldn't resist to. He whispered that to Bubbles, a smile on her face, who then informed Blossom of Courage's plan. Even Blossom had to smile at the thought, and she finally whispered that to Buttercup.

The green puff had a light on her eyes. "Excuse me a moment, but I have to go to the toilet" she said, and she rushed upstairs, running as fast as she could. She entered the girls' bedroom instead to go into the toilet.

After some seconds, Buttercup returned to say goodbye to the guests.

"Goodbye, Muriel!" said the girls.

"Oh, aren't they so cute?" said Muriel.

"Oh, yes, they really are. Goodbye, Courage!" said the Professor while patting Courage on the head. Courage could give a single wave to the Professor before that the Powerpuff Girls ran to him and embraced him in their grasp. The dog hugged back, and a entire minute passed before they let each other away. He would have sworn he had heard from them a very low sentence: "We will never forget you, Courage!".

"And goodbye, Eustace!" said the Professor.

"Ahem... Nice to have met you, I guess..." muttered Eustace.

"Eustace! I have a present for you!" said Buttercup, an innocent gaze on her face.

"Uh? That is interesting!" replied Eustace.

Buttercup come near to the farmer. Then, she suddenly drown the Hallowen wolf mask she had used before and shouted "Booga, Booga, Boogaaaa!".

Eustace was terrified. "Aaargh!" he screamed, and he jumped on Muriel's arms.

After some seconds of astonishment, everyone started to laugh, except for Eustace.

"What a cute prank! Wasn't that funny, Eustace?" said Muriel, who was still laughing in her very innocent way.

Eustace was mumbling, a bit angry about the event that had just happened.

He made a bothered sound, then he finally said: "... _Stupid girls!_".

_**THE END**_


End file.
